1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for producing a liquid-discharging recording head for recording liquid discharge for use in an ink jet recording method, a liquid-discharging recording head produced by the method, and a recording apparatus equipped with the recording head.
2. Related Background Art
The liquid-discharging recording head adapted for use in an ink jet recording method (hereinafter also called a liquid discharge recording method) is generally provided with a fine liquid discharge opening, an ink channel, and an energy generating element provided corresponding to the ink channel and used for generating energy to be utilized for ink discharge, and, at the recording operation, an ink droplet is discharged from the opening by the function of the energy generating element and is deposited on a recording sheet, thereby forming a record. A conventionally known method for producing such liquid-discharging recording head comprises forming a fine groove or grooves on a glass or metal plate by mechanical working or etching, and adhering such grooved plate with another suitable plate to form the ink channel or channels.
However, the liquid-discharging recording head produced by such conventional method has been associated with a drawback of frequent fluctuation in the recording characteristics because of the lack of consistency in the flow resistance in the ink channel, resulting from the insufficient smoothness of the mechanical finishing of the internal walls of the ink channel, or from the distortion in the ink channel caused by locally different etching rate. Also the mechanical working has been associated with a low production yield because of frequent chipping or cracking of the plate. On the other hand, the etching process is unfavorable in production cost, because of a large number of process steps. Also these conventional methods have been associated with a drawback of difficulty in the alignment of the plate bearing grooves as the ink channels with the substrate bearing piezoelectric elements or electrothermal converting elements for generating the energy for ink discharge, whereby such methods lack adaptability for mass production.
Furthermore, such liquid-discharging recording head is constantly in contact, in the state of use thereof, with the ink liquid, which is generally aqueous and often non-neutral, or is based on organic solvent. For this reason the materials constituting the liquid-discharging recording head are preferably free from deterioration in the strength by the influence from the ink liquid, and are free from undesirable components which deteriorate the performance of the ink liquid upon migration thereinto. However, in the above-mentioned conventional methods, it is often not possible to select the materials meeting these objectives, because of certain limitations in the working steps of these methods.